April 18
Events *1025 - Bolesław I the Brave was crowned in Gniezno, becoming the first King of Poland. *1506 - The cornerstone of the current St. Peter's Basilica is laid. *1518 - Bona Sforza is crowned as queen consort of Poland. *1775 - American Revolution: Two lanterns were hung in the steeple of the Old North Church in Boston, Massachusetts, indicating British advancement by sea; Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott ride to warn of impending arrests of Samuel Adams and John Hancock. *1797 - Battle of Neuwied - French victory against the Austrians. *1880 - A F4 tornado strikes Marshfield, Missouri, killing 99 people and injuring 100. *1899 - St. Andrew's Ambulance Association is granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria. *1906 - An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.9 destroys much of San Francisco, California. * 1906 - The Los Angeles Times runs a front-page story on the Azusa Street Revival, launching Pentecostalism as a worldwide movement. *1909 - Joan of Arc is beatified in Rome. *1915 - French pilot Roland Garros was shot down and glided to a landing on the German side of the lines during World War I. *1923 - Yankee Stadium, "The House that Ruth Built", opens. *1942 - World War II: The Doolittle Raid on Tokyo occurs. * 1942 - Pierre Laval becomes Prime Minister of Vichy France. *1942 - The Toronto Maple Leafs come back after a three game deficit to win the Stanley Cup against the Detroit Red Wings. *1943 - World War II: "Operation Peacock", Isoroku Yamamoto is killed when his aircraft is shot down by U.S. fighters over the Solomon Islands. *1946 - The League of Nations is dissolved. *1945 - Over 1,000 bombers attack the small island of Heligoland, Germany. *1949 - The Republic of Ireland Act comes into force. *1954 - Gamal Abdal Nasser seizes power in Egypt. *1958 - A U.S. federal court rules that poet Ezra Pound be released from an insane asylum. *1961 - CONCP is founded in Casablanca as a united front of African movements opposing Portuguese colonial rule. *1974 - Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto inaugurates Lahore Dry port. * 1974 - Italian prosecutor Mario Sossi is kidnapped by the Red Brigades. *1980 - The Republic of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) comes into being, with Canaan Banana as the country's first President. *1983 - A suicide bomber destroys the United States embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 63 people. *1988 - U.S. launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in retaliation for damage to the USS Samuel B. Roberts. The one-day action is the largest naval battle since World War II. *1992 - General Abdul Rashid Dostum revolted against President Mohammad Najibullah of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and allied with Ahmed Shah Massoud to capture Kabul. *1993 - President of Pakistan, Ghulam Ishaq Khan dissolves the National Assembly and dismisses Cabinet. *1994 - Richard Nixon, former President of the United States, suffers a stroke and dies four days later. *1996 - In Lebanon, at least 106 Lebanese civilians are killed when the Israel Defense Forces shell the UN compound at Qana (see Qana Massacre). *1999 - Hockey player Wayne Gretzky's number (99) is retired league wide in the NHL. *2007 - The US Supreme Court upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in a 5-4 decision. * 2007 - 32 Chinese steel workers burn to death in the Qinghe Special Steel Corporation disaster. Births *1480 - Lucrezia Borgia, Florentine ruler and daughter of Pope Alexander VI (d. 1519) *1580 - Thomas Middleton, English dramatist (d. 1627) *1590 - Ahmed I, Ottoman Emperor (d. 1617) *1605 - Giacomo Carissimi, Italian composer (d. 1674) *1771 - Karl Philipp Fürst zu Schwarzenberg, Austrian field marshal (d. 1820) *1772 - David Ricardo, English economist (d. 1823) *1797 - Adolphe Thiers, French statesman (d. 1877) *1819 - Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Cuban Revolutionary (d. 1874) *1819 - Franz von Suppé, Austrian composer (d. 1895) *1838 - Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, French scientist (d. 1912) *1857 - Clarence Darrow, American attorney (d. 1938) *1863 - Leopold Graf Berchtold, Austro-Hungarian foreign minister (d. 1942) *1864 - Richard Harding Davis, American author (d. 1916) *1874 - Oskar Ernst Bernhardt, German author (d. 1941) *1877 - Vicente Sotto, Filipino patriot,Author of the "Sotto Law" ,The Press Freedom Law(RA 53),Father of Cebuano Literature *1875 - Ivana Brlic-Mazuranic, Croatian writer (d. 1938) *1880 - Sam Crawford, baseball player (d. 1968) *1882 - Leopold Stokowski, Polish conductor (d. 1977) *1888 - Duffy Lewis, baseball player (d. 1979) *1893 - Violette Morris, French athlete (d. 1944) *1897 - Ardito Desio, Italian topographer (d. 2001) *1901 - Al Lewis, American lyricist (d. 1967) *1902 - Giuseppe Pella, Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1981) * 1902 - Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Hasidic Judaism leader (d. 1994) *1904 - Pigmeat Markham, American comedian (d. 1981) *1905 - George H. Hitchings, American scientist, Nobel laureate (d. 1998) *1907 - Miklós Rózsa, Hungarian-born composer (d. 1995) *1915 - Joy Gresham, American writer (d. 1960) *1917 - Ty LaForest, Canadian baseball player (d. 1947) * 1917 - Frederika of Hanover, Queen Consort of Greece (d. 1981) *1918 - Cliff Hillegass, American publisher (d. 2001) * 1918 - Tony Mottola, American guitarist (d. 2004) *1919 - Virginia O'Brien, American singer and actress (d. 2001) *1921 - Barbara Hale, American actress * 1921 - Jean Richard, French actor (d. 2001) *1924 - Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, American musician (d. 2005) * 1924 - Henry Hyde, American politician *1927 - Samuel P. Huntington, American political scientist *1930 - Clive Revill, New Zealand born actor *1934 - George Shirley, American tenor *1936 - Tommy Ivo, American race car driver *1937 - Jan Kaplický, British architect of Czech origin *1939 - Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran * 1939 - Thomas J. Moyer, American judge *1940 - Joseph L. Goldstein, American scientist, Nobel laureate * 1940 - Mike Vickers, British guitarist and saxophonist (Manfred Mann) *1942 - Jochen Rindt, Austrian racing driver *1945 - Margaret Hassan, Irish-born aid worker (d. 2004) *1946 - Hayley Mills, English actress *1947 - Kathy Acker, American author (d. 1997) * 1947 - Dorothy Lyman, American actress * 1947 - Herbert Mullin, American serial killer * 1947 - Cindy Pickett, American actress * 1947 - James Woods, American actor *1949 - Geoff Bodine, American race car driver *1950 - Kenny Ortega, American film and television producer and choreographer *1951 - Ricardo Fortaleza, Australian-Filipino retired boxer * 1951 - Pierre Pettigrew, Canadian politician *1953 - Rick Moranis, Canadian comedian *1956 - Anna Kathryn Holbrook, American actress * 1956 - Eric Roberts, American actor * 1956 - Melody Thomas Scott, American actress *1958 - Malcolm Marshall, Barbadian West Indies cricketer (d. 1999) *1961 - Jane Leeves, British actress * 1961 - Steve Lombardi, American professional wrestler *1963 - Eric McCormack, Canadian actor * 1963 - Conan O'Brien, American comedian *1964 - Niall Ferguson, British historian * 1964 - Rithy Panh, Cambodian film director * 1964 - Jim Ellison, singer/guitarist for the band Material Issue *1965 - Rob Stenders, Dutch radio discjockey *1966 - Trine Hattestad, Norwegian athlete * 1966 - Valeri Kamensky, Russian ice hockey player *1967 - Maria Bello, American actress *1968 - Mary Birdsong, American actress * 1968 - David Hewlett, English born Canadian actor *1969 - Princess Sayako of Japan * 1969 - Keith R.A. DeCandido, American author *1970 - Greg Eklund, American musician (Everclear) * 1970 - Rico Brogna, American baseball player *1971 - Tamara Braun, American actress * 1971 - David Tennant, Scottish actor * 1971 - Oleg Petrov, Russian ice hockey player *1972 - Eli Roth, American film director *1973 - Derrick Brooks, American football player * 1973 - Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopian athlete * 1973 - Brady Clark, American baseball player *1974 - Mark Tremonti, American musician * 1974 - Millie Corretjer, Puerto Rican singer * 1974 - Edgar Wright, British director * 1975 - Mook, American Nomad & General Good Guy *1976 - Melissa Joan Hart, American actress * 1976 - Fayray, Japanese singer * 1976 - Justin Ross, American politician *1977 - Dan Lacouture, NHL hockey player *1979 - Vahid Rahbani, Iranian actor and director * 1979 - Michael Bradley, American basketball player * 1979 - Anthony Davidson, British Formula One driver * 1979 - Nuria Fergó, Spanish singer * 1979 - Matthew Upson, English footballer *1980 - Robyn Regehr, Canadian ice hockey player *1981 - Audrey Tang, Taiwanese software programmer *1983 - Miguel Cabrera, Venezuelan baseball player *1984 - America Ferrera, American actress *1985 - Łukasz Fabiański, Polish footballer * 1985 - Karl Reindler, Australian racing driver *1987 - Danny Guthrie, English footballer * 1987 - Sandra Lyng Haugen, Norwegian singer *1989 - Alia Shawkat, American actress *2007 - Hayah bint Hamzah, Princess of Jordan * 2007 - Prince Lerotholi Seeiso, son of King Letsie III of Lesotho Deaths *1161 - Theobald of Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury *1552 - John Leland, English antiquarian (b. 1502) *1556 - Luigi Alamanni, Italian poet (b. 1495) *1567 - Wilhelm von Grumbach, German adventurer (b. 1503) *1558 - Roxelana, wife of Suleiman the Magnificent *1636 - Julius Caesar, English judge *1650 - Simonds d'Ewes, English antiquarian (b. 1602) *1674 - John Graunt, English statistician (b. 1620) *1689 - George Jeffreys, British Chief Justice (b. 1648) *1732 - Louis Feuillée, French explorer (b. 1660) *1794 - Charles Pratt, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1714) *1796 - Johan Wilcke, Swedish physicist (b. 1732) *1802 - Erasmus Darwin, English physician and botanist (b. 1731) *1873 - Justus von Liebig, German chemist (b. 1803) *1898 - Gustave Moreau, French painter (b. 1826) *1906 - Luis Martín, Spanish Superior-General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1846) *1917 - Vladimir Serbsky, Russian psychiatrist (b. 1858) *1935 - Panait Istrati, Romanian writer (b. 1884) *1936 - Ottorino Respighi, Italian composer (b. 1879) *1942 - Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, American socalite (b. 1875) *1943 - Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese admiral. (b. 1884) *1945 - John Ambrose Fleming, English physicist and engineer (b. 1849) * 1945 - Ernie Pyle, American journalist (b. 1900) *1945 - Prince William of Wied, sovereign Prince of Albania (b.1876) *1947 - Josef Tiso, Slovakian leader (b. 1887) *1955 - Albert Einstein, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879) *1958 - Maurice Gamelin, French general (b. 1872) *1964 - Ben Hecht, American writer (b. 1894) *1965 - Guillermo González Camarena, Mexican inventor (b. 1917) *1967 - Karl Miller, German footballer (b. 1913) *1974 - Marcel Pagnol, French novelist, playwright and filmmaker (b. 1895) *1976 - Mahmoud Younis, Suez Canal nationalization Engineer (b. 1911) *1990 - Gory Guerrero, professional wrestler (b. 1921) *1993 - Masahiko Kimura, Japanese judoka (b. 1917) *1995 - Arturo Frondizi, President of Argentina (b. 1908) * 1996 - Brook Berringer, American football player (b. 1973) * 1996 - Bernard Edwards, American record producer (b. 1952) *1998 - Terry Sanford, American politician (b. 1917) *2002 - Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian explorer (b. 1914) * 2002 - Wahoo McDaniel, American football player and professional wrestler (b. 1938) *2003 - Edgar F. Codd, English computer scientist (b. 1923) *2004 - Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, first Prime Minister of Fiji and President of Fiji (b. 1920) *2005 - Sam Mills, American football player (b. 1959) *2007 - Iccho Itoh, mayor of Nagasaki (b. 1945) Holidays and observances * Iran - Army Day * Zimbabwe – Independence Day. * United States - National Day of Silence (2007) Liturgical feasts In the Roman Catholic Church: * Saint Apollonius (d. 185/6) * Saint Galdino (d. 1176) * Saint Perfecto (d. 850) * Saint Laserian * Saint Emma External links * BBC: On This Day * * On This Day in Canada ---- Category:April